Category: Health & Well-Being

Why Great Leaders Lead With Questions

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Health & Well-Being, Improve Academy, Leadership, Management, Personal Development, Workplace Learning
Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

Great leaders are not afraid to lead with questions. They don’t assume they know what others are thinking.

If you want to know more, ask the right questions. If you are not getting the right answers from your people, ask more questions.

Questions show you where to go next. Questions make things better, not worse.

According to Michael J. MarQuardt and Bob Tiede, ‘Leaders must have a deep commitment to listening to others, and thereby become better able to identify and clarify the will of a group.’

‘Leaders need to be careful not to interrupt; rather, they should make sure they have a complete understanding of the situation.’

‘Leaders should be careful not to rush the responses to their questions. A good question will often cause the recipient to step back and reflect.’

‘Leaders should be comfortable when there is no immediate response to a question.’

‘Leaders ask better questions when they are curious rather than demanding.’

‘A questing mindset shows that you care about the other person.’

‘Empowering questions help develop alignment within teams and draw out the optimum performance from individual members and the team as a whole.’

‘Questioning leaders are confident and willing to challenge beliefs and assumptions.’

‘Questioning leaders recognize that everyone is needed, and that everyone should serve one another, if the organization is to be successful.’

‘Questioning leaders … improve their ability to teach, mentor, and coach.’

‘Leaders who ask questions develop their emotional intelligence through questions.’

‘A questioning culture encourages reflection.’

Source:

Michael J. MarQuardt and Bob Tiede (2023). Leading with Questions: How Leaders Discover Powerful Answers by Knowing How and What to Ask

How Great Leaders Energize People

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Health & Well-Being, Improve Academy, Leadership, Management, Personal Development, Workplace Learning
Photo by Felicity Tai on Pexels.com

As a leader, your people are watching you. Don’t assume you know how they see you. You don’t. If you want to know, you have got to know them. You have got to meet them where they are.

In her book The Inspiration Code: How the Best Leaders Energize People Every Day, Kristi Hedges writes, ‘When you show how seriously you’re taking a conversation, it raises the importance for everyone else as well.’

‘Embracing uncertainty and saying ‘I don’t know’ invites outside thinking. It also shows courage.’

‘To truly connect with someone else, we need to send out a beaming and accurate light that allows them to see our intentions and motivations clearly.’

‘Your leadership story tells people what you’re all about.’

‘Communicating potential helps people access their strengths.’

‘When we highlight potential, we boost confidence.‘

‘If you know how to shift your listening, you can go into deep and inspirational listening mode whenever you choose to.’

‘We need to shift to curiosity when we want to learn, rather than just confirm what we already think.’

‘When we exude positive energy, people borrow from it, internalize it, and make it their own.’

‘The energy we convey sets the benchmark for what other people will be able to feel.’

‘When you connect to the emotional core of your message, you exhibit a mobilizing force.’

Source:

Kristi Hedges (2017). The Inspiration Code: How the Best Leaders Energize People Every Day